Neighbors' reactions range from elation to indifference to a Fort Collins megachurch's purchase of A Hunt Club.

Sep. 9, 2013

A Hunt Club, 400 S. Link Lane, Fort Collins / 9News

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Many businesses near Fort Collins’ sole strip club aren’t disappointed by the sudden closure of their notorious neighbor.

A Hunt Club, located in an an area of commercial and industrial buildings north of East Mulberry Street, closed shop Sunday, much to the surprise — and in some cases, elation — of its neighbors. Timberline Church plans to purchase the building and use it to serve the spiritual needs of north Fort Collins, but no contracts have been signed.

Some Link Lane neighbors, such as Choice Tan and AMS Automotive Machine Supply, were indifferent to the club’s closing, saying A Hunt Club was always a good neighbor.

“It won’t affect us for good or for bad,” said AMS owner Darin Driscoll. “That building is kind of a dump, though.”

Others, however, are very much looking forward to their new neighbors.

Timberline Church is Fort Collins’ largest church body, with about 6,000 weekly attendees, and was ranked Colorado’s fifth-largest church in a recent study by The Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

The church is known for local and international outreach and has locations in Old Town, central Fort Collins and Windsor. If plans to place a new church in A Hunt Club’s building go through, it would be the fourth Timberline location geared to serve the needs of a specific Northern Colorado community. Serve6.8, an independent nonprofit with roots at Timberline, recently purchased and took over ownership of the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope, which serves the northern Fort Collins homeless community.

Jathan Travena, operator of family-owned skating rink Rollerland, said his business suffered “dramatically” when A Hunt Club opened just south of the rink in 1989. Rollerland opened in 1980.

Travena said many families stopped coming to the rink after the strip club opened. For example, his own wife, when she was a child, wasn’t allowed to come near Rollerland because of A Hunt Club’s presence.

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“There’s a conflict of interest with a business that caters to 21 and up and us being a business that caters to minors and families,” Travena said. “It was a huge issue. When they opened, we didn’t have a chance to protest or anything like that.”

While he expressed concern for Hunt Club employees and dancers, Travena is looking toward a future that could bring more families to the area.

Patrick O’Neill, co-owner of Vern’s Toffee House, said the club’s only negative impact on the area was its reputation as a strip club. He hopes the building’s new owners will do more for the community.

“I don’t know that A Hunt Club did anything for the surrounding businesses that was positive,” O’Neill said. “It didn’t help the other businesses to have the reputation of that neighbor in our area. (Timberline) is a wholesome group. We’re looking forward to our new neighbors.”

Ashley Trent, 21, a topless dancer who started at the club as a 19-year-old, told the Coloradoan on Sunday that around 40 people lost their jobs when the club closed.

Sarah Jane Kyle is the Coloradoan reporter covering volunteerism, nonprofits and philanthropy. Follow her @sarahjanekyle or on Facebook www.facebook.com/reportersarahjane.